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An integrated approach to simulating behavioural processes: The lockin demonstration

A demonstration version of the model described in Janssen and Jager (1999) can be downloaded.

The demo version requires the following hardware and software:

The demo software files are compressed into a zip file: lockin.exe. To install the demo version, follow these instructions:

  1. Unzip lockin in the directory of your choice, for example c:\lockin, by moving the lockin.exe file to the directory of your choice and then typing lockin in this directory. Press return. A number of files will be generated in the selected directory.
  2. To start the software, go to the Start menu and choose Windows Explorer from the Programs menu.
  3. Go to the drive and directory where you have installed the software, e.g. c:\lockin.
  4. Double click on the file demo.bat. Note: depending on the settings of your Windows Explorer software the extensions '.bat' may be hidden.
  5. Option: you may create a shortcut by selecting the appropriate '.bat' file and choosing the option Create Shortcut from the File menu. You can drag this shortcut to your desktop.

* User guide

For the visualisation of the model, the M software (which can be obtained from www.m.rivm.nl) has been used. The visualisation within this graphical interface software consists of views. Each view consists of a number of levels, made up of boxes (within boxes) and sliders, buttons or graphs.

After starting the program as described in the installation procedure, the first view will appear. From now on the program is mostly mouse-operated. Depending on the location of the mouse there are a number of operations that can be performed using the mouse buttons.

Use of the mouse

At the menu bar at the top of the screen a menu can be found with a number of specific items.

Below is a list of all menu items you can use. The other items you can't use in this version of the software.

MenuItemAction
File Print Opens a menu to print the screen to printer or to a file
Exit Exits the model
Tools Scenario manager For saving and opening input scenarios
Viewer Options Freeze and rerun the model
Help About Gives information about the version of the M-software used

Notes:

  1. Disabled menu options are grey coloured and will not be described.
  2. A graph can be made active by pressing the left mouse button in the graph.
  3. Whenever settings are changed, they have to be confirmed by a <return> before they will be activated.
The View Options is helpful because of the Freeze option. After activating Freeze you can change the inputs without re-running of the model. You will have to press the Freeze button again to rerun the model.

By pressing the right mouse button in a box a menu will pop up. Below is a list of all the possible menu items. Not all the items will be shown at all times, e.g. if a box is already open the menu item Open will not appear. There are some menus with a number of options that are disabled. These options are grey coloured and will not be described.
Menu itemAction
Open Opens a box.
Close Closes a box
Open all Opens all boxes under the current level.
Close all Closes all boxes under the current level.
Zoom in Zooms in on a box and opens it.
Zoom out Zooms out from a box.
Reset Resets the contents of all boxes under the current level to their default values.
Set reference Set the value of all boxes under the current level of a reference level, which will remain visible when one or more of the values is/are changed.
Unset reference Removes all references of all boxes under the current level.
Load ... Loads data from a data file into a box.
Save ... Saves data from a box to a data file.

When the mouse pointer is positioned within a graph, a menu with different options will appear. From the first four options (Show value, Drag, Scale X and Scale Y) one option is always active. This option defines how the left mouse button will act.

Menu itemAction
Show value Shows the location of the mouse pointer in XY co-ordinates.
Drag Enables dragging the graph to shift the scale of the X and / or Y-axis.
Scale X Enables changing the range of the X-scale.
Scale Y Enables changing the range of the Y-scale.
Edit free Enables changing the graph freely by dragging the line.
Edit line Enables changing (parts of the) graph linearly.
Edit expo Enables changing (parts of the) graph exponentially.

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© Copyright Journal of Artificial Societies and Social Simulation, 1999